Celios Highlights Impact of Red and White Cooperative Pickup Imports

The Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) has highlighted several issues with the policy of importing pickup trucks from India for the Red and White Cooperatives. Executive Director of Celios, Bhima Yudhistira, cautioned that trade between Indonesia and India could potentially become a deficit due to the large-scale import of pickups. He estimates that Indonesia will actively import spare parts from India as a vehicle-producing country. Bhima stated that the large value of pickup imports could drive an increase in the country’s need for foreign currency. If this foreign currency uses the US dollar, it indirectly has the potential to pressure the fundamentals of the rupiah exchange rate. “Are all transactions directly using rupiah against the rupee? No. This will be converted into dollars,” Bhima said in a discussion session held by Indonesia Corruption Watch regarding the potential for rent-seeking in the purchase of pickups for the Red and White Cooperatives in Jakarta, Friday, 10 July 2026. Previously, PT Agrinas Pangan Nusantara imported 105,000 pickup vehicles from India for the operational needs of the Red and White Cooperatives. In early February 2026, around 1,200 units of Mahindra & Mahindra cars had already arrived in Indonesia. The total contract value for this import is IDR 24.66 trillion. Furthermore, Bhima assessed that large-scale pickup imports could erode the performance of the domestic automotive sector. One potential impact is a reduction in production capacity, which could affect efficiency, including reducing employee bonuses. In fact, he did not rule out the possibility of layoffs due to this import activity. On the other hand, with the number of Mahindra dealers still relatively limited in Indonesia, repair efforts and access to spare parts could pose difficulties for the Red and White Cooperative administrators, especially if the cooperative is located in a less strategic area.